Sir,--In Dr. Maitland's able vindication of the _Dark Ages_ (p. 419. 1st
ed.), he concludes his interesting extract from the scribe Otloh's
account of himself by saying:--"One would like to know what books they
were which Otlohnus thus multiplied; but this, perhaps, is now
impossible." I have it accidentally in my power to identify two at least
of the number; and if it was his universal practice to subscribe his
name, as he does in these instances, a search into the principal
repositories of MSS. would, no doubt, give a large list. A valuable MS.
volume in my possession has been thus described by a learned
Benedictine: "Codex Membranaceus constans foliis 223 numerando; sæculis
ix. desinente, x. et xi. incipiente, variis manibus scriptus, per partes
qui in unum collectus, ex scriptis variis natidæ scripturæ carlovingicæ,
varia continens: 1° Vita et Passio, seu Martirium S. Dionisii; scripta
fuit ab Hilduino Abbate Coenobii S. Dionisii in Francia sub Ludovico
Pio." It is said that Hilduinus was the first writer who gave the
marvellous story of the saint carrying his own head in his hand for
nearly two miles after his decapitation. But he tells us that he
abridged his narration _ex Græcam et Latinorum Historiis_.
2° Revelatio facta S. Stephano Papæ de consecratione altaris SS. Petri
et Pauli ante Sepulchrum S. Martirii Dionisii quæ consecratio facta fuit
v. kal. Aug. 754. This part of the MS. is remarkable for containing in
one place the date written in Roman ciphers, thus--dccLiiii. v. kl.
aug.; a circumstance so rare in MSS. of this age, as to have astonished
the learned diplomatists Papebroch and Germon.
3° Historia S. Simeonis Trevirensis Solitarii. Of whom it is recorded
that he lived _sub Poppone Episcopo Trevirense, in quædam cellula ad
portam nigram sitâ_. At fol. 36. an interesting account of the death of
the saint is given by the author, who was present, and with the
assistance of two other monks, piously performed his obsequies. It
appears that the abbey of S. Maximin was about 120 paces from the cell
of the saint at Treves, and it is therefore most probable that the
writer was a monk of the Benedictine order then belonging to that
foundation; but he puts his name out of doubt by the following couplet,
inscribed at the end of the narrative:--
"Presbiter et monachus OTLOH quidam vocitatus
Sancte tibi librum BONIFACII tradidit istum."
This dedication of his labours to S. Boniface may only indicate his
veneration for the national saint; but, as he tells us he worked a great
deal in the monastery at Fulda (of which S. Boniface was the patron
saint and founder), may not this have been one of his labours there? At
a subsequent period, it appears, he revised and amplified Wilibald's
_Life of Boniface_.
I must summarily indicate the other contents of this interesting MS.,
which are: 4. Passio SS Sebastiani et Vincentii. 5. Vita S. Burchardi.
6. Vita et Passio S. Kiliani (genere Scoti). 7. Vita S. Sole. 8. Vita S.
Ciri. 9. Depositio S. Satiri. 10. Alphabetum Græcum. 11. Officio pro
Choro cum notis musicis, pro festo S. Pancratii; sequitur ipsiis
martiriis passio. 12. Vita S. Columbani [this is anonymous, but is
attributed to his disciple Jonas, and contains much valuable historical
matter]. Lastly, 13. Vita S. Wolfgangi, by the hand of our interesting
scribe OTLOH, written at the instance of the Benedictine Coenobites of
his monastery of S. Emmeram, at Ratisbon, where the saint was buried.
This, as in the case of the _Life of S. Boniface_, is a _rifaccimento_;
it was made from two older lives of S. Wolfgang, as Otloh himself tells
us, one of them by a certain monk named Arnolfus, the other having been
brought out of France. He is here, therefore, more an author than a
scribe; but he declares modestly that it was a task he would willingly
avoid for the future. The passage of his Preface is worth transcribing:
"Fratrum quorundam nostrorum hortatu sedulo infimus ego, O coenobitarum
S. Emmerammi compulsus sum S. Wolfgangi vitam in libellulis duobus
dissimili interdum, et impolita materie descriptam in unum colligere, et
aliquantulum sublimiori modo corrigere.... Multa etiam quæ in libro
neutro inveniebantur, fidelium quorundam attestatione compertâ addere
studui, sicque quædam addendo, quædam vero fastidiose vel inepte dicta
excerpendo, pluraque etiam corrigendo, sed et capitularia præponendo.
Vobis O fratres mei exactoresque hujus rei prout ingenioli mei parvitas
permisit obedivi. Jam rogo cessate plus tale quid exigere a me." At the
end of the Life he has written:--
"Presul Wolfgange cunctis semper vererande
Hæc tua qui scripsi jam memor esto milii
Presbiter et Monachus Otloh quidam vocitatus
Sancte tibi librum Bonifacii tradidit istum."
We have here sufficient evidence that Otloh was a worthy predecessor of
the distinguished Benedictines to whom the world of letters has been so
deeply indebted in more recent times.
Dr. Maitland's mention of the calligraphic labours of the nun Diemudis,
Otloh's contemporary, is not a solitary instance: in all ages, the world
has been indebted to the pious zeal of these recluse females for the
multiplication of books of devotion and devout instruction. An instance,
of so late a date as the eve of the invention of printing, now lies
before me, in a thick volume, most beautifully written by fair hands
that must have been long practised in the art. As the colophon at the
end preserves the names of the ladies, and records that the parchment
was charitably furnished by their spiritual father, I think it worth
transcribing:--
"Expliciunt, Deo laus omnipotente, quinque libri de VITA &
CONVERSATIONE SANCTORVM PATRVM Scripti per manibus Sororum AUE
TRICI et GHEEZE YSENOUDI in festivus diebus suis consororibus
dilectis in memoriam earum. Finiti ano dni M° CCCC° XLIX° in festo
decollationis Sci Johannis baptiste ante sumam missam. Et habebant
ad hoc pergamenum sibi ex caritate provisum de venerabi li
presbitero Dno NICOLAO WYT tunc temporis earundem patre spirituali
& sibi ipsiis spiritualiter ac in Dno sat reverenter dilectio. Ex
caritativo amore sitis propter Deum memores eorum cum uno AVE
MARIA."
I omitted to mention that Massmann, in his _Kleinen Sprachdenkmale des
VIII. bis XII. Jahrhunderts_, Leipsig, 1830, p. 50, says: "The
Benedictine priest Otloh, of Regensburg, left behind him a work, _De
Ammonicione Clericorum et Laicorum_, in which is twice given a Latin
prayer (Cod. Monacens. Emmeram. f. cxiii. mbr. sæc. xi.), at fol. 51.
_d_., as _Oratio ejus qui et suprascripta et sequentia edidit dicta_,
and at fol. 158. as _Oratio cuidam peccatoris_." On fol. 161. _b_. is an
old German version, first printed by Pez (Thes. i. 417.), corrected by
Graff. Diutiska, 111. 211., by Massmann, at p. 168. Otloh mentions in
this prayer the destruction of his monastery of St. Emmeram, which took
place in 1062.